Key of H
by NineTailedFoxDemoness
Summary: For the first time, he did not want something for its sheer power over everyone else. He wanted her for the sheer desire of some sameness. She was barely human just as he was. Her voice, her song was proof of that.  Sasorixoc


**Key of H**

[Sasori Short Story]

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_H - Do_

She had been born half-deaf and barely human. Her mind was not molded the same as everyone else's had. Even her parents could not understand the workings of it. They did not know that they had set forth their daughter's fate from the very moment they introduced her to music at the age of five. They were lovers of classic folk songs, and had hoped to share that love with their daughter. But their love was different from her love.

It wasn't the aesthetic wonders of song and music that excited her; it was the pure mechanics of it. She would pluck strings for hours, listening to each note and wondering how that note was different from the previous notes and why it could be achieved by simply moving a finger. She would listen to a song for hours in her head, trying to repeat it and replay it with every detail in their place. Although the technicalities of music enticed her, her mind was not equipped with such faculties to understand or enjoy music as normal people did. Instead of hearing the emotion behind a voice, she heard the different notes in odd patterns that made her wonder why it worked that way with that voice. Either she had never understood human emotion to begin with or she did not want to understand. Most thought that it was the former.

_U - Re_

At the age of fifteen, she killed an old man who was singing a folk song just outside of her house. She demanded that he give her his voice box to dissect and examine. When he refused and tried to run away, she ran after him and, without sympathy or any understanding of pain, slit his throat. She continued to cut away at the meat and muscle until she reached the larynx. Then she demanded that the old man sing but did not realize he was dead. Even when the shinobi came and took her away, calling her a murderer for killing her own father, she didn't realize the old man was dead. She kept calling out to him, demanding him to sing. It was later that they found the body of her mother in the house, the throat slit just like the father's was. The shinobi took the daughter to her own little cell in a youth mental institution.

But in the institution, she became worse. With the sound of silence all around her, she would sing her own little songs in weird, off-key patterns. When she realized that her songs were nothing like the ones she had heard outside, she would try to change it but always repeated the same strange, off-key song she had sung before. She would sing it despite the insults from the other patients. After all, she couldn't hear them over her own music.

_M - Mi_

There was a commotion outside, a big bang and several screaming people. In the mental institution, the patients were banging on their doors and bars, telling the workers to let them escape too. The workers were already gone when the first bang hit. The patients all screamed and tried feebly to open their doors.

All except for the girl who was still singing.

It was this weird tune that reached the ears of a certain Akatsuki member. He turned, curious, and started toward the noise. He left the destruction of the village to his partner. When he reached the source, he saw a young girl behind barred doors. She looked to be in her late teens and was wearing a white dress that was far too small for her. Her hair was matted with years of solitude and neglect. But despite her looks, it was her singing that really caught his attention.

He wasn't a musician nor was he a regular fan of music. Despite this, he found the song she was singing to be interesting in its off-key, irregular, non-traditional rhythm. He cut the door open.

Once opened, the two looked at each for a moment in a moment of silence. She had stopped singing and just stared at this young man, large, and passion-haired. Without saying anything, the two formed a bond. It was a bond only barely-humans like themselves could understand.

"Come, girl," he said. When he turned around and began to walk away, she stood up and walked behind him like a wooden puppet.

_A - Fa_

The next day, he washed her hair, bathed her, and outfitted her with a larger white dress they had found in the destroyed village. Although he touched her body in the most intimate places, neither of them felt any passion or heat from each other's skin. That was because they could not and would not view each other as passionate objects. Their bond they had made the other day was about anything but passion.

"Sasori, why did you bring along that girl, hm?" his partner asked.

"She was singing the other day," he replied.

"Hm?"

"If I can make her right, I could use that powerful voice of hers," he answered. "She'll be my greatest masterpiece yet." He began to comb her hair and she sat still. It was a mystery as to whether or not she understood his words; if she did she surely would've showed fear. But then again she wasn't human; fear and emotions were not part of her character.

_N - Sol_

It was late at night and five days later. She was still alive, though many knew not how. She had scarcely eaten or drunk anything. The threat of death loomed over her with his presence. Yet she did not seemed bothered by this. All she did was stare aimlessly, emotionlessly at everything around her with little curiosity.

"Are you sure that girl can sing?" his partner asked. He poked her cheek but got no response. "She might be mute by now, y'know. Maybe I should scare her." His hand began to reach into a pouch.

"Don't even think about it Deidara. If you hurt her, I'll make sure you die."

"Aww. But Sasori-donna," Deidara playfully whined. But he smirked as he retracted his hand. "I was just kidding around. Sheesh. But seriously, I don't know why you bothered with her. She hasn't done a single thing."

"Just wait, Deidara. She'll be my newest and greatest masterpiece yet," the one known as Sasori said. He stroked her hair, making sure the tangles were out and everything about her was perfect.

_M - La_

Two days passed. While Sasori was bathing her, she began to sing. For no explicit reason, she opened her mouth and sung her off-key, off-beat, off-rhythm, nonsense song as he touched her intimately with no heated passion. When he heard her sing, his hand stopped where they were-on her neck. He felt the soft workings of her voice box. It was an irregular vibration that ticked his inner artist, just like everything else about her. But despite it, he smirked as he returned to bathing her. He even seemed to like the song that she was singing.

Just as he finished putting her into clothes, she stopped her song. A moment later, Deidara came out of the bushes, hands on his ears and an annoyed scowl on his face. "Did you hear that noise? Man, it was awful. Worst singing I ever heard." Then he looked at her and asked Sasori, "Was that _her_ singing?"

"Yes," he answered. He began to stroke her hair. "And it was beautiful."

Deidara scoffed and replied, "If you say so. I just hope you don't try to use that on me in battle."

Sasori made a small mental note on that.

He whispered to her, "You're almost ready."

Strange. Hairs on her neck were raised and her blood turned cold. It was the first sign that she was becoming almost human.

_E - Ti_

Three days later, and she had begun to stare curiously at things. She began to move more and do more. When Sasori would stroke her hair, she would begin to gradually move away. Deidara saw it as only human behavior beginning to manifest in her. Sasori saw it as a sign of bad fortune.

"You're too worried, Sasori," Deidara said. "You can still use her, right?"

"Yes, but she won't be the great masterpiece I wanted," Sasori said. His face did not show it, but he was very troubled by her new behavior.

He became even more troubled when night began to fall. He bathed her, but noticed that at times her breath became hitched in her throat. Goosebumps appeared on her body where he had touched her. Her blood temperature was rising ever so slightly with every passing second. He was so troubled that he just stood up and left her. He told her, "Bathe. I'll be back."

When he returned, he saw her in her usual white dress. She was humming a tune. Her fingers were on her neck, feeling the soft vibrations of her larynx. Listening closely, he heard the tune of an old folksong. He realized that the song that she had sung three days ago no longer existed in her barely-human memory. In fact, she had begun to become more regular, more human. And with that her barely-human memories were gone.

If she were to stand any chance of becoming his masterpiece, she would have to die right now. So Sasori made up his mind. Drawing a kunai from his pouch, he lunged out at her. She gave a small cry of surprise but was silenced by the kunai as it pierced her heart. She looked up into the eyes of Sasori and formed a small smile. With her remaining strength, she reached up and stroked his cheeks with both her hands. Her eyes, emotionless until then, softened into an expression that Sasori would never be able to understand. It held a gentle forgiveness that would've made even great demons cry. But it was the gone a moment later when her eyes closed.

Sasori worked his magic on her corpse. He made sure that she was drained of blood and cleaned. He replaced what he could with wooden parts and removed most of her organs, for she would no longer need them. Then he injected a chemical into her that would give her the appearance of a healthy human being and keep her body from decomposing. Finally, when he was about done, he opened her eyes and gave a soft smile.

It was time to test her out. He made sure that he could move her well and all her parts were working. Then it was time to test her real strength. He made her open her mouth and sing.

But it was not a song that came out of her mouth.

"Thank you for making me almost human," she said. It was the first comprehensible sentence she had uttered in years. But it was not what Sasori wanted to hear.

He closed her mouth and opened it again. A song did come out, but it wasn't what he wanted to hear. He closed her mouth and opened again. Repeatedly he did this until he could make her sing her song, but even after a hundred tries it did not work. He finally gave up and handed her over to Deidara with this simple order: "Get rid of her however you see fit."

Deidara, confused, looked at the new puppet in his hands. "I thought she was going to be your masterpiece, Sasori."

"Just do as I said," Sasori growled.

"Alright, if that's what you want, hm." Deidara then reached into his pouch of clay. After minutes of preparing _his_ masterpiece, he drew out his hand. In it was a clay bird that had an awfully large mouth. With a poof, it became bigger. Deidara placed the girl inside and the bird flew away. When it was about 500 feet in the air, it exploded.

"Now, _that's_ a true masterpiece, my friend," Deidara said with a triumphant smirk.

"True art lasts forever," Sasori said in his emotionless monotone.

"Again, I disagree, hm. It's a bang."

They argued as they began to walk to their next destination. They didn't bother to hear the songs of the night birds. But Sasori did look back when he heard the faintest sounds that could've been the beginning of her song.

_H - Do_


End file.
